This invention relates to coin return chutes for telephone pay stations and, in particular, to adapting such coin return chutes to prevent theft of coins.
The coin return chutes in use today typically comprise a hollow body having front and back walls and top and bottom walls which are joined by opposing side walls. An intermediate wall is situated between the top and bottom walls and extends from a point below the back of the top wall downwardly toward the front wall to define with the top wall and the side walls a throat for the coin return chute. The bottom wall of the chute extends downwardly from the front wall and then rearwardly upwardly toward the back wall. It thus forms with the intermediate and side walls a trough portion for the chute, the trough extending below and forwardly and rearwardly of the throat.
The front wall of the chute is provided with an opening which is normally closed by a pivotally mounted door and through which a finger of a caller can be inserted to retrieve coins being returned and delivered to the trough. At the rear of the top wall of the chute a further opening is provided. This opening receives from the coin return mechanism of the telephone pay station coins to be returned to a caller. These coins pass through this opening onto the intermediate wall of the throat and are delivered thereby to the trough at the bottom wall for retrieval by the caller as above-described.
In pay stations using coin return chutes of the described type, theft of coins from the chute as a result of so called "stuffing" of the chute has been a continuing problem. In this type of theft, the thief inserts into the throat of the chute via the opening in the front wall and via the trough an obstruction which prevents coins from being delivered from the throat to the trough. This obstruction is left in the pay station over a period of time so that an accumulation of coins occurs. The thief then returns to the pay station, removes the obstruction and the coins fall from the throat into the trough to be recovered by the thief.
Early attempts at trying to prevent this type of theft centered around designing the coin return mechanism of the pay station in such a way that it became disabled when the chute was stuffed. This type of solution is described, for example, in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 1,887,576; 1,901,944; 1,921,071; 1,921,072; and 2,004,615. While disabling the coin return mechanism did prevent theft of coins, it also prevented the caller from receiving return of his or her coins in the event a call was not completed. Disabling of the coin return mechanism was thus not an entirely satisfactory solution to the theft problem and was not really feasible in pay stations where access to an operator was not available.
More recent attempts at avoiding this type of theft involved designing the return chute so as to make stuffing of the chute more difficult. In particular, the back wall of the chute below the intermediate wall was brought forward so as to reduce the area of the trough available for a thief to work in when attempting to insert his or her stuffing material. Also, an opening closed by a pivotal door was provided at this portion of the back wall so that the material being used to stuff the chute might pass out of the chute. These design modifications, however, have not proved entirely successful and there still is a need for a more viable way to inhibit theft of telephone pay stations due to stuffing of the coin return chute.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a coin return chute for a telephone pay station which is adapted to effectively inhibit stuffing of the chute.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a coin return chute for a telephone pay station which is adapted to effectively inhibit stuffing of the chute in a manner which can be readily implemented into existing chute designs.